Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 18 March 2016

:: National ::

Cheating charges invoked on Vijay Mallya by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation has decided to invoke the charge of cheating against businessman Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and others in the alleged Rs.900-crore IDBI Bank loan wilful default case. The agency is also probing over 5 lakh financial transactions of the company since 2004.
The CBI had in JULY 2015 registered the case under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) read with Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and other provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against unknown IDBI officials pertaining to abuse of office to allegedly extend favours to Mr. Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines.
Section 409 of the IPC, a stringent provision that prescribes a maximum of life sentence, does not come under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the law that empowers the Enforcement Directorate to attach the alleged proceeds of crime. Therefore, the Directorate was concerned that attaching assets in its money laundering case against Mr. Mallya would pose a challenge.
Apart from corruption, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust, cheating charges are also being pressed against the accused, given that they allegedly defrauded the bank of the loan amount,
The CBI has through various channels approached the authorities in the four countries seeking access to the details of transactions. The agency is treading cautiously in identifying the transactions pertaining to the IDBI Bank loan funds as the loan had been sanctioned for a wide range of purposes and, therefore, many of the transactions could be legal.

Ford Foundation gets a relief

The Home Ministry, on the basis of a report sent by the Gujarat government in 2015, had put the international non-governmental organisation on the “watch list”, citing concern to “national security”.
The Gujarat government report had said that the organisation funded the “anti-India” activities of Citizens for Justice and Peace and Sabrang Trust run by Teesta Setalvad, activist.
Apart from the diplomatic pressure, Ford Foundation complied with the government’s condition to register itself under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 which enables it to receive foreign funds in its accounts.
Ford Foundation, which has been operating in India since 1952 was not registered either as an NGO or under any other category like the Indian Society Act till now. It applied under FEMA and got registered as a branch office by the Reserve Bank of India in December 2015.
Besides Ford Foundation, there are 15 other NGOs/associations, which are under this restricted category.
The Home Ministry sent a letter to the Reserve Bank of India on March 16 to remove the foundation from the watch list
The order means that banks will no longer require the Ministry’s clearance to process the foreign funds coming from the foundation to any Indian bank account.

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:: International ::

Kurds declare federal region in Syria

Syria’s Kurds declared a federal region in areas under their control in the north of the conflict-hit country, but both the government and an opposition coalition rejected the move. The announcement is likely to anger neighbouring Turkey and has complicated peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the five-year civil war.
The U.S., a key backer of Kurdish fighters in the battle against the Islamic State (IS), has also warned that it would not recognise any self-ruled Kurdish region within Syria.
More than 150 delegates from Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and other parties meeting in Syria agreed to create a “federal system” unifying territory run by Kurds across several Syrian provinces.
Kurdish parties already operate a system of three “autonomous administrations” in Syria’s north, with independent police forces and schools.
The three cantons stretch along Syria’s northern border with Turkey and are known as Afrin and Kobani, both in Aleppo province, and Jazire in Hasakeh province.
The new “federal system” is expected to centralise governance in the three cantons under elected councils.

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:: Business ::

Monsanto ordeal

The government expects to develop its own genetically modified (GM) cotton varieties early next year to end Monsanto's dominance; it controls over 90 per cent of cotton seed supply.
New technologies are critical to lifting India's poor farm productivity, although even if India did develop a home-grown GM cotton variety in 2017, it would struggle to sustain a program that needs to refresh seeds every decade or so, experts warned.
The introduction of Monsanto's GM cotton seeds in 2002 helped turn India into the biggest producer of the fiber, while other crops like pulses continue to suffer as transgenic food is banned and local research has stalled.
Despite the gains GM cotton brought for more than 7 million cotton farmers in India, some of them and their associations, including one affiliated to Modi's ruling party that promotes self-reliance, have complained Monsanto overprices its products.
Under pressure to mollify farmers hit by three straight crop failures due to bad weather, Modi's government has imposed a cut of around 70 per cent in royalties that local firms pay Monsanto for its cotton technology.
Monsanto has taken the government to court over the royalty.
Monsanto said it have to re-evaluate its India business, because it was difficult to bring in new technologies in an “environment where such arbitrary and innovation-stifling government interventions make it impossible to recoup research and development investments

Government eases cabotage norms

The Union government announced that it has eased cabotage rules in a bid to encourage transhipment of goods at Indian ports.
Cabotage refers to transportation of goods or passengers between two places, usually along the coast.
Transhipment is the movement of goods when a container arrivess at an intermediate point and re-loaded into another ship to be taken to some destination domestically or abroad.
The cabotage relaxation will enable shipping lines to consolidate Indian EXIM and empty containers at transhipment ports in India for onward transportation to destination ports by main shipping lines
The rule change will also allow foreign vessels to bring goods at any of the Indian ports meant to be shipped to other destinations.
The spare capacity of the foreign flag ships which could not be utilized earlier due to cabotage restrictions will now be gainfully utilized enabling them to offer competitive container slot rates to exporters and importers leading to competition led efficiency in container transportation and lower logistic costs for the shippers